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NITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEON FAVRE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,854, dated May 24, 1881. Application filed September 6, 1880. (No specimens.) Patented in France April 152, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEON FAVRE, of Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Producing Colored Photographs, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore numerous attempts have been made, underthe name of ph otochrom y, heli' ochromy, &c., to produce colored photographs, but without satisfactory results. The failure is in great part to be attributed to the dull appearance which the photographs have when colored by the means in use.

This invention has for its object to remedy this defect, and to give to the pictures a lifelike appearance and a brilliancy of coloring, such as characterizes paintings in oil; and it comprises a new process and article.

One of the distinctive features of the invention is the interposition of atranslucent layer, preferably of gelatine, between the pellicule on which the photographic image is formed and the colors, which are mixed in essence or in oil, and are applied at the back of the image. The colors are or may be spread on this layer by means of a brush, advantage being taken of the translucence of the pellicule and of its support. Thelayer of gelatine forms the ground for the colors and protects the image from their destructive action.

The improved process of coloring is generally applicable to all kinds of photographic images, whether obtained by impression or other known means.

Of the many ways of carrying the invention into efl'ect the principal will now be indicated.

Upon a plateof glass a positive carbon image is produced after the Poitevin process, by means of bichromatized gelatine and an ordinary stereotype-negative, and the colors are applied at the back of the bichromatized pellicule, on which the image is formed.

The operation is commenced by touching up the more prominent points. If a portrait is to be colored, the teeth are painted white with the point of the brush, the lips red, the jewelry yellow, and the eyes and similar parts of the subject, of the proper color in like manner. This done, over these touches (and always, it should be borne in mind, on the back of the image) is spread thelayer of gelatine, collodion, or varnish, adapted to isolate the image and preserve it from direct contact with the colors about to be applied in large masses.

When the isolating coating or layer is dry the operation of coloring is proceeded with. First, the light colors and delicate shading such as the flesh tints of the face and handsare applied, and then the solid colors on the vestments and elsewhere. the order thus adopted the clear outlines of the costume are obtained with certainty, since, owing to the opaqueness of the light colors first applied, the darker ones, more carelessly applied, do not appear through them.

In place of allowing the photographic image to remain attached to the glass, which causes the articles to be too fragile, it is preferred to transfer it to paper or pasteboard, to a plate of wood or metal, or other less brittle support. For this purpose the face of the glass that is to receive the carbon proof is waxed and covered with a collodion film.

After the photograph is formed and colored, as before described, with a layer of gelatine interposed between the image and the colors, the saidlayeris cut around theedges, and, with the image and colors which it supports, is detached. The separation of the image from the glass plate is rendered easy by the preparation of said plate by means of wax and collodion.

The gelatine layer, together with the image, can be detached, if desired, after the former has dried and before the application of the colors. The support of the glass is in this case dispensed with. This method is preferably employed for images of small dimensions, such as portraits. The gelatine layer or film is sufficiently rigid for applying the colors thereto.

In either case the detached colored image can by the aid of an agglutinating-varnish be mounted upon paper, pasteboard, metal, or other suitable material, to serve as the permanent support.

In place of taking as the starting-point a carbon proof formed on glass, and applying the colors to this, a proof or print, in greasy inks, upon glass or other suitable material, after one of the processes known as phototypic, or after In consequence of the photoglyptic process of Woodbury, may be adopted. The surface of the support should be previously waxed and collodionized, or prepared with beef-gall, to facilitate the removal of the said printed image.

Operating on this image as in the preceding cases, alayer of gelatine, collodion, or varnish is spread on the back; on this isolating-coating the colors are applied. The image thus protected and colored is detached from its first support and mounted upon paperorcard-board or other material.

Byfollowingtheprocessjustcxplainedavhatever variations there may be in details, a colored image is obtained, of which photography or phototypy has given the outlines and shadows, and in which the opaque oils or essence colors appear in all their brightness and cleanness through the isolating-layer and the pellicule of the image.

If it is desired to avoid the polished appearance on the face of the picture derived from the gloss, a piece of wet cloth may be placed and evenly pressed upon the picture. \Yhen the cloth is removed the gloss will have disappeared, and the picture will then present the appearance of a painting on canvas. On the other hand, the image can he albumenized in case it is desired to heighten the burnished or glossy appearance.

Having now explained the said invention and the manner of carrying the same into efi'ect, what I claim isl. The method of making colored photographs by applying to the back of the pellicule or film, in which a carbon photographic image is formed, a translucent layer of gelatine or similar material, and painting the image with colors, in essence or oil, applied to said layer.

2. The method of coloring carbon photographic images by first touching up the highlycolored parts of the subject and applying a layer of gelatine or similar material, and then the mass of colors on said layer, substantially as described.

I A carbon print having a translucent layer of gelatine or similar material upon the pellicule or film of the print, at the back thereof, and colored by pigments, as described, the mass of said pigments being applied to the said layer, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEON FAVRE.

Witnesses ton'r. M. Hoornn, CHARLES MARDELET. 

